


Time Dive

by summerartist



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Fanart, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Illustrations, Wingfic, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-05 20:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21214835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerartist/pseuds/summerartist
Summary: Not all of the Doctor’s regenerations have had wings, but 10 and 11 did. Here are some snippets about how it had an impact on their lives and how their companions reacted.                                              (Now with Bonus Art)





	1. Chapter 1

11th

The Doctor groaned as he rifled through the stacks of papers and books. He knocked over a particularly large stack of dictionaries and they hit the floor with a resounding clap and crash. Rory stuck his head into the library, surveying the flood of upended items. Amy craned her neck over his shoulder to spectate.

“Are you alright in there, Doctor?” Rory called.

The Doctor muttered furiously as he peeked under heaps of maps and letters. This was really beginning to get ridiculous. He had made certain that this one was secure, had even pinned it into place.

“S’ fine.” He continued to rake over every nook and cranny of the large room. If only the Tardis was not still annoyed with him then she would have helped.

“What are you looking for?” Amy asked.

The Doctor felt the top of his head, looking a little lost. “My Fez.”

The companions exhaled, used to their Doctor’s concern over his various hats. Something about his Fez’s lightweight design made it prone to flying off with a single flap. If the Doctor wasn’t paying attention then he was sure to forget where it had landed.

“You can just buy another one,” Rory pointed out.

Amy shook her head at her husband, silently entreating him to stop enabling their friend.

“But I liked that one. It was lined with silk and taffeta. It even had the little stripey bits on the inside,” the Doctor ruminated.

After a few more minutes of searching, the Doctor was forced to expend his energy on something else. The Tardis remained resolutely unhelpful about the whereabouts of his hats. While she enjoyed her Doctor’s glee over such a simple item, she knew he would become equally distraught whenever he inevitably lost one. She found that nipping it in the bud early on saved him from stress later.

She managed to make up for it in other ways...a new package of Jammy Dodgers in the pantry, a snazzy new bow tie in the wardrobe...it all evened out eventually.

11th

The Doctor might have been skilled with using his wings for balance, but when it came to maintenance he only did the bare minimum. His wings weren’t particularly sensitive, so sometimes he was not even aware that his companions were brushing against them.

After a while of traveling, grooming was designated as a quick group activity. This method succeeded, since forcing himself to sit still for them would have put too much pressure on his psyche. He even gave Amy and Rory permission to stealth-preen him on the go. Rory in particular had qualms about this. It took some reminding, but eventually Rory was fastidiously grooming him on the sly.

“It’s always the quiet ones,” the Doctor mused as he looked over his shoulder to find Rory with his hands in his secondaries.

Rory flushed as if he had been caught doing something private. The Doctor simply smiled at him and went back to pecking at the control panel. Now that he was concentrating, he could feel Rory delicately rearranging the feathers back into place.

“Is this becoming a compulsion?” The Doctor queried, pulling down a lever that objected with a small squeak.

“I’m interested in the biology of it, having wings.” Rory’s gaze was nothing but admiring as the Doctor stretched out the opposite appendage. The feathers quivered as he overextended a little.

“Even if they don’t fly?” The Doctor asked.

“Even so,” Rory admitted. He watched the Doctor refold the ruffled wing.

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t rewrite your DNA to Gallifreyan or give you a wingspan that attaches. Not unless you’re looking for something from a costume shop.” It was really quite ludicrous how humans regarded them as a sign of purity of the soul. The Doctor did not want Rory to fall into that mindset. If there ever was a human that could fit that particular criteria…

Rory seemed to shrug off the impossibility. It was simple for Rory to never miss what he hadn’t experienced. The Doctor _had_ known what it was like to lose his wings though. If others cherished the wings for what they were, like the Doctor did, he supposed that that was alright.

10th

The air was hot and humid. The Doctor was tempted to give his wings a little shake, but with Donna walking behind him she was sure to notice the breeze. (He had been planning to tell her once she had gotten over the novelty of calling him an alien. He wondered what his next nickname would be when she found out about the feathery appendages on his back.)

The universe had its own way of surprising him, for he took only a few more steps before he entered some kind of electrical field. His cloaking device sputtered and buzzed, making him turn around on the spot. Donna was peering at him with concern, noting his tense posture. He reached behind him and the device gave one last whir before it abruptly died.

“Doctor, your back! There’s something on your back!”

The cloak was completely fried so that his wings were visible and physically present. He frowned and tore the tech off of the base of his neck. The device was burnt and crumpled, almost as if it had sunk in on itself. He sighed and ran his sonic screwdriver over it. Thankfully his sonic was unharmed, which pointed to the likelihood that the electrical barrier only dismantled stealth technology.

“What’s that? Did that thing give you wings?” Donna kept attempting to gain his attention as she surveyed the wingspan of the Doctor.

“No, it was concealing them.”

He put away his sonic and tucked the fried technology into one of his coat pockets. He readied himself for a barrage of Donna’s questions. He was considerably startled when he found her speechlessly regarding him instead.

At last, she seemed to come back to herself and say something. “God, they’re beautiful.”

The Doctor blinked at her, pleasantly surprised. Seeing his smugness, she hastily amended her statement. “I mean they’re like eagle wings, aren’t they. Though I’ve never seen an eagle that looked like you. Are you part bird now?”

“Of course I’m not part bird!” The Doctor whined. “And I didn’t get them just now. I’ve had them since I’ve had this face. And being ginger doesn’t make you part ginger cat.”

“You’ve had them since you’ve had this face?” Donna repeated, ignoring his defensiveness. “How come you’ve never shown them before? And why do you hide them anyway?”

“Well, had to blend in, didn’t I? Gallifreyan wings paint a bit of a target on your back if not just drawing a load of attention. Humans always notice that sort of thing. So, cloaking device.” The Doctor patted his pocket.

They discussed it for a while longer, during which the Doctor revealed that not all Gallifreyans had wings and could only develop them during the most unusual regeneration cycles. He purposefully neglected to tell her it was because his mind and body thought he was young in this form. Wings were considered to be a childish trait on Gallifrey. Parliament had no one serving with their wings, and most Time Lords with a Tardis had regenerated into an older form. His Tardis didn’t seem to mind his youthful mentality though. In fact, he would go so far as to say that she enjoyed this form.

“Am I going to have to start calling you Bird Man? Space Angel?” Donna asked him after their brief discussion.

The Time Lord’s features scrunched up with distaste. “Doctor will do.” Then he added quietly, “Spaceman if you must.”

Donna smiled. She had always known that he was particularly fond of that one.

10th

The Doctor sat upon a stone ledge by a signpost, gingerly pressing a sandwich bag full of ice cubes to the back of his head. Wilf was seated beside him.

“I suppose it was lucky I was nearby,” Wilf stated.

The Doctor hummed agreement and felt the growing lump near the base of his skull.

“Do you want to go get that checked out? It took you a moment to come-to.”

The Doctor honestly could not remember if he had lost consciousness so he would have to take Wilf’s word for it. “It’ll heal,” he assured him.

The Doctor briefly took the ice cubes off of the back of his head while he studied their surroundings. They were still down by the wharf. He could hear the water lapping at the boardwalk behind them.

“Don’t take offense, Doctor, but Donna mentioned that you have wings,” Wilf fidgeted.

“Yes, I have wings,” he confirmed.

“Well, couldn’t you have sort of hovered before you hit the concrete?” Wilf asked

The Doctor sighed. He wished that the legends about Gallifreyan wings had been true, but that pocket of time had been hidden since before the Big Bang. He supposed he would never know if his kind had been able to fly or not.

“They’re non-functional. Gallifrey’s idea of a planetary joke.” He guessed that the bump on the head was making him a tad morose. Wilf seemed to catch his meaning.

“Oh, don’t say that, Doctor. Donna said that they were nice, and she doesn’t say that without meaning it.”

The Doctor flushed, smiling a little.

“So, do I have to guess what they look like or are you going to show me?” Wilf grinned.

Coming from anyone else the question would have come across as slightly invasive. The Doctor did not doubt that if he refused, Wilf would have let the matter drop and would have never brought it up again. Without hesitation, the Doctor reached back behind him and decloaked.

Wilfred gasped as brown-ish gold wings unfurled. The Doctor stretched them out to their full extent. The feathers were ruffled by breeze coming off of the water and the sunlight that was beginning to peek from behind the clouds shimmered on them. The Doctor smiled serenely as he was finally able to let the air play with his feathers. He watched Wilf for his reaction.

The human gaped for a moment until he found words. “They’re amazing. Truly amazing. Don’t you call them a joke!”

Wilf nudged him roughly with his elbow and the Doctor laughed. He supposed that they were indeed wonderful, but it was gratifying to hear Wilf say it.

“Thank you, Wilf.” The pain in his head was receding already, but he knew that he would need a good nap before long. He blinked contentedly, not quite ready to hide his wings again. For a little while they simply sat there, Human-kind and Gallifreyan keeping each other company.

The End.


	2. Bonus Art

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sketches unrelated (except for the wings) to the fic  
I based Ten's on a Golden Eagle and Eleven's on a swan. I also drew them all in one day because apparently I was excited to draw. Heh. Sorry for the sad middle pic. As always, let me know if you like them. ^^

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Titanic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23485081) by [RockyMountainRattlesnake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockyMountainRattlesnake/pseuds/RockyMountainRattlesnake)


End file.
